tomb

American  

[toom] / tum /

noun

• tombs
  plural

1. 

   an excavation in earth or rock for the burial of a corpse; grave.

2. a mausoleum, burial chamber, or the like.

3. a monument for housing or commemorating a dead person.

4. any sepulchral structure.

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verb (used with object)

1. to place in or as if in a tomb; entomb; bury.

tomb British  

/ tuːm /

noun

1. a place, esp a vault beneath the ground, for the burial of a corpse

2. a stone or other monument to the dead

3. a poetic term for death

4. anything serving as a burial place

   the sea was his tomb

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verb

1. rare (tr) to place in a tomb; entomb

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• tombal
  adjective
• tombless
  adjective
• tomblike
  adjective
• untombed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tombs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of tomb

1225–75; Middle English tumbe < Anglo-French; Old French tombe < Late Latin tumba < Greek týmbos burial mound; akin to Latin tumēre to swell. See tumor, tumulus

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Explanation

A tomb is a place where a dead person is buried. Usually, a tomb is under a tombstone, which says the name of the person who died and when they lived. We're all going to die, and that means we're all going to end up in some type of tomb: a place where a corpse is buried. Over time, there have been many types of tombs, including the huge, ornate, elaborate tombs of the Egyptians. Other tombs are simpler, involving the simple burial of a box or the cremated remains.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tomb tombs

Ms. Turetsky applies a bewildering array of nouns to describe peat—it is a vault, a tomb, a record, a pendulum, an archive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The attribution to Samuel is based on clues including the location of the tomb, the sumptuousness of the garment, the age of the deceased and an old fracture.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

They also shed light on the tomb owner’s position in the Ramesside hierarchy, and on the other family members buried here – plus, potentially, later reusers of the tomb.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 10, 2026

Archeologists have dug up an ancient tomb that has largely been untouched for 600 years.

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

The tomb drawing clung in his mind, and so did Heqet’s idea that there was some thieves’ plan connected with that little room.

From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

Underground Etruscan tombs perforate the wooded land, “waiting to be cracked open like tin cans.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

Maritime voyages during the that period are known from Egyptian texts, pottery vessels and raw materials from ancient tombs.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 26, 2026

Thousands of mourners are expected to attend the burial at the royal tombs near the palace in Fort Portal in western Uganda.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

The apparent absence of weaponry or tombs, including for the civilization’s rulers, also remains a mystery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

They were far more highly prized than any other objects that were brought out of the tombs, because private collectors and a few foreign museums paid very handsomely for them.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

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Related Words

• burial
• coffin
• mausoleum
• monument
• pit
• vault

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